Andy Bates

New media artist & designer

Hello! I’m Andy, a Brisbane-based artist with a passion for creating works that encourage exploration and provide new experiences for the audience. My creative practice involves a fusion of past experiences and skills that I use to establish strong and thoughtful connections from the concepts behind a work to the final outcome. Please browse my portfolio to see a selection of past projects, and if you’re interested in working with me or commissioning a work, don’t hesitate to get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Folio

Planets

Collaboration with Michael Smith

An interactive performance work involving a cluster of 'orbs', concerned with crowd dynamics and group experience.

Trail of Traits

Collaboration with Alice Brown

A series of interactive discovery boxes, promoting exploration of urban space.

Cause and Effect

Collaboration with Lincoln Savage

Tangible interface, allowing users to explore the effects of smoking on the human body.

Crystalis

Goddess of the Apocalypse

The Lost Girl

Short film depicting two lovers passionately intertwined, exploring themes of discovery, love and regret.

Animated Folio

A short motion graphics work that breaks apart a selection of old projects, giving them new life through animation.

Planets

Collaboration with Michael Smith

Planets is a participatory performance that explores relationships between people, places and objects. Members of the public are invited to join in the performance, led by a contemporary dance
practitioner. Onlookers can observe the spectacle of light created by the participants as they ripple and pulse across urban landscapes. Planets is both a personal and public experience, asking people to
consider their role in the society and environment that they orbit.

Trail of Traits

Trail of Traits is an embodied interactions project, developed with Alice Brown. It involves a collection of four interactive boxes that fuse technology and fabricated media to create a unique user
experience. The goal of this project was to explore the implications of physical, interactive artefacts as a means for encouraging exploration of real space.

Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect is a tangible interface, allowing an audience to examine the impact of smoking on the human body through touch interaction. The amorphous effigy houses a series of touch sensitive
buttons that, when triggered, visualise health issues related to smoking via an on-screen display. Cause and effect addresses the disconnect between input device and user, seeking to enhance a learning
experience through the physical manifestation and embodiment of the subject matter.

Division and Dusk

Division and Dusk is a sculptural data visualisation, exploring the divided treatment of African lesbian and gay citizens as enforced by national laws. This division is contrasted with the laws of
countries that can be considered industrialised, democratic and liberal, where equal treatment of their lesbian and gay citizens is evident to varying degrees. The piece aims to provoke questions and deeper thought about inequality between these nations
and the divide in lesbian and gay treatment.

Creative Space

Creative Space is a proposed identity package for the IVENTory at the Queensland Museum, aiming to establish INVENTory as a hub of creativity. A space where ideas and imagination are enhanced and the
process of making is heightened by the audience’s presence within and interaction with their surroundings.

Asbestos, Absent

Asbestos, Absent is a series of info graphics that exposes the overlooked aspects of asbestos whilst striving to change pre-conceived opinions about how and who is affected in Australia. Each design
presents data in a manner that can be understood with ease, yet maintain audience attention through the personal, relatable nature of the graphic elements.

An Exorcism

An Exorcism is a collection of images, influenced by themes of the occult, witchcraft and sacrifice. Abstracted effects are coupled with high-contast framing of the model to establish a consistent
aesthetic. Analogue and digital photographic techniques were implemented to achieve the smoke effect, a common motif throughout the series.

Crystalis

Crystalis is an interactive artwork involving three crystalline forms that respond to motion. The forms glow from within and will begin to pulsate when the master crystal senses human presence. When in
their active state, the crystals resemble a cluster of heartbeats. This is a symbolic ideal, linking the manufactured artifacts to their original forms, lying within nature. They aim to provoke
thought about the coexistence of man and nature, exploring themes of spirituality, built environment and biological ecosystems.

Goddess of the Apocalypse

Goddess of the Apocalypse is a mixed media investigation, incorporating traditional printing press techniques with digital editing processes. The series examines the four elements of nature and juxtaposes
them with macro photographs of the human body. The outcome is a collection of posters that use printed media, photography and digital image manipulation to symbolise a personal journey through the various
landscapes that encompass my creative practice.

The Lost Girl

The Lost Girl is a short experimental film that explores themes of love, loss and torment. The work is heavily inspired by the Canadian television series 'Lost Girl', where the protagonist is a modern-day
interpretation of a succubus. In my work I sought to reimagine the series titles and began to explore an open narrative, which was influenced by the supernatural abilities of the succubus character.
I was particularly interested in her ability to draw the life force from others through a mere kiss.

Animated Folio

This work is a short motion-graphics piece, developed to explore my skills in Adobe After Effects. The foundation of the work is a collection of past projects developed across my studies in graphic design. Each project was separated into various layers, then reassembled through different motion graphics techniques. My goal was to illustrate the process behind each of the individual works, while capturing the essence of the projects through movement quality and dynamic animations.

Resumé

Experience

I'm currently a session academic (tutor) at the Queensland University of Technology teaching various interactive & visual design units in the creative industries faculty.

I have 5+ years of tertiary education in various fields of design/art and 7+ years of employment in hospitality & retail – i’m a people person!

In 2014 and 2015 I participated as an interactive artist in the ARS Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria – the world renowned festival for art, technology and society.